It was another huge weekend in the Liberty A-League and the Dub Zone crew delved through some of the major talking points in the competition.
Off the top of the show, news petered through of a devastating season ending injury to a veteran Matilda and Melbourne Victory midfielder – who had just overcome a series of constant setbacks.
The crew also touched on whether Melbourne City can continue to defy their lengthy casualty list heading into the final stretch of the season.
Meantime excitement builds as the Liberty A-League’s 12th side gets the wheels in motion ahead of their return to the competition next season.
Here are some of the key talking points from the Dub Zone panellists.
Latest setback for Matildas midfielder
Unfortunately, the latest round of action in the Liberty A-League started on a sour note when news came through that Elise Kellond-Knight had ruptured her Achilles tendon.
Kellond-Knight sustained the injury in training during the week, which will rule her out for the remainder of Victory’s season and putting her hopes of going to a fourth FIFA Women’s World Cup with the Matildas in serious doubt.
READ: Matildas midfielder season over, World Cup hopes in doubt after Achilles rupture
It’s the latest in a series of devastating injuries for the veteran midfielder, who had battled back from a host of debilitating knee injuries that sidelined her for the best part of two years.
Prior to the injury, Kellond-Knight had just started to hit her straps for Victory and was recently called-up in the Matildas’ Cup of Nations squad.
“It’s devastating because of the journey that Elise Kellond-Knight had taken to get back to playing and the cruelest part of all is she had her best game of the season just last weekend,” Dub Zone commentator Teo Pellizzeri said.
“My mail is that it was a very traditional Achilles experience. You think someone’s kicked you in the back of your leg, you turn around and you see no one’s there, and all of a sudden, you’re down and you’re injured.
So it’s an awful injury given the battle that she had with ACLs and all the complications around her knees. Still only 32 years of age, a two-time player who’s been in the FIFA Team of the Tournament at a World Cup.
“I mean, in the short term for Melbourne Victory, it’s a big challenge for the Matildas it’s also a really big question as well.”
Kellond-Knight’s departure creates an even bigger hole in Victory’s midfield, having already lost fellow Matilda Alex Chidiac following the expiration of her loan deal.
Are injuries going to catch up with City?
It was back to winning ways for Melbourne City on the weekend.
City bounced back after consecutive defeats to come away with a convincing 4-0 win over Newcastle Jets on Saturday afternoon, strengthening their position inside the top four heading into the final month of the season.
However, Dario Vidosic’s side were the walking wounded, only fielding three outfield players on the bench due to a host of players being unavailable due to injury or international duty.
Among the absentees on Saturday included goalkeeper Melissa Barbieri (calf), defenders Naomi Chinnama (hamstring), Karly Roestbakken (foot) and Tori Tumeth (ACL) – while Daniela Galic is still away on international duty.
Young duo Leah Davidson (ankle) and Caitlin Karic (knee) also missed out and were ruled out for the rest of the season on Monday.
READ: Melbourne City suffer injury blow, duo ruled out for rest of the season
Pellizzeri and former Melbourne City player Rhali Dobson debated whether their host of injuries could hurt them come finals time.
“Their depth is being really tested here, Rhali (Dobson),” Pellizzeri said as the clash with Newcastle came to an end.
“Three points here will get them a lot closer to mathematically sealing their spot in the top four, but we saw it last season, they fell in a heap in the finals and they wouldn’t want to do it again.”
“No, I mean as as a former Melbourne City player… there is an expectation, there is a legacy at Melbourne City and you have to perform. If you’re not, questions are going to be asked,” Dobson responded.
So my question is: why have they got all these injuries? Is there a loading problem as we were talking about before? Is it just because the league is progressing? There’s a lot of questions that need to be asked there.
Despite their mounting injury list in most areas of the pitch, City have bolstered their attacking stocks as of late with the return of both Holly McNamara and Maria Jose Rojas last weekend.
But the defence and midfield still remain injury ravaged, leaving Pellizzeri to question whether City need to look towards bringing in reinforcements to help fill the holes left by their absentees.
“It’s every position. I guess, forwards now with (Holly) McNamara and (Maria Jose) Rojas returning, kind of gets them back to full stocks,” Pellizzeri said.
“But they’ve got midfield questions now. They’ve had defence questions all year. Karly Roestbakken, at least she’s training, but she’s still not really close my understanding to a return.
“Tori Tumeth has been at the club all season but is rehabbing an ACL and wasn’t expected to play this season. I mean, they almost have as many players out as they do in.
You’d think that at some point, if there’s a club that’s going to pull the lever and find an injury replacement or find a wildcard from somewhere. It’s got to be Melbourne City.
Dobson, who has been in this situation before as a player, wouldn’t be shocked if City pulled the trigger on bringing in a short-term replacement.
“Normally we’re getting a surprise around this time of the season,” she said.
“Normally as a player, when you’re there, you don’t even know it’s happening until you’re sitting in in a meeting on a Monday morning and they go surprise we’ve signed this player and everyone’s like when were we going to be told about this?”
Welcome back, Central Coast
Central Coast Mariners’ return to the Liberty A-League is drawing nearer and near.
The Mariners, who last played in the competition in 2009, will become the league’s 12th side when they return to action for the 2023-24 season. Last week, the club announced the appointment of Emily Husband as their head coach, who’s coming in off the back of a highly successful tenure at NPLW NSW side Sydney University.
Before Husband joined Dub Zone as a special guest, the crew discussed their arrival and what it will mean for the competition.
READ: Mariners coach’s message ahead of Liberty A-League return
“It is being connected to a local community is so important, particularly with country based teams,” Dobson said.
“And that’s what Central Coast is like as well as the Newcastle Jets. The question that we now have is: how is this going to affect potentially the recruitment of any people from the Newcastle area downwards or even from Sydney up?
“Who are they going to drag? But it’s a fantastic appointment (Husband) because of the history that she has not just as you know as a person but as an ex-player.”
Dobson is familiar with the process of being part of an expansion side, having joined City a few years into their existence in 2017, but also playing against them as a Newcastle player.
“Basically what happened when Melbourne City came in everyone knew they were backed and owned by Manchester City,” she said.
I’ll be really honest about it. Everyone went: ‘oh well they’re just going to buy the trophy. They’re just going to buy the league’ and look they did exceptionally well. But what that encouraged was it made all the other clubs – majority – step up.
“They dragged the league up and they’ve been dragging it ever since and you look at the likes of Sydney FC have joined those ranks, Melbourne Victory, look at what Western United achieved in their first season.
“Adding in teams means that we’re broadening the opportunity for international players, and for calibre in Australia who you know have only had a select few teams to come play for. They now have the opportunity to play for other teams and showcase their skills. It widens our talent pool and it provides us with greater opportunity or better Matildas.”
Meanwhile, Pellizzeri is intrigued by the manner in which the Mariners will build their inaugural squad and whether they will follow in the footsteps of recent expansion sides Wellington Phoenix and Western United – who took different approaches to their recruitment strategy.
“We’ve seen Wellington come in with a clear strategy to develop their team ahead of the Under-20 Women’s World Cup where they took a lot of the Wellington players away with the New Zealand team to Costa Rica,” he said.”
“I think they played pretty well all things considering with a core of those players representing their team.
“Western United have come in really looking to identify value in the market and players that have perhaps been forgotten in the margins. I think it was 15 Australian players that were not part of the A-League Women’s last season in their squad this year.
So I’m really fascinated about the squad building element of what Central Coast will look to do.
